The first day of earthbending didn't go as well as I had hoped.

"Come on!" Aetia shouted at me. "Just hit the stupid rock!" She was referring to the boulder she had made. The boulder that was in front of me. The boulder that was twice as high and probably a hundred times as heavy. The boulder that would break my hand.

"No!" I said, and took a step back, breaking my horse stance. "I don't want to break my hand…"

Aetia stared at me. "Seriously?" She asked me, and put her hands on her hips."You- the Avatar- won't hit a rock because you're afraid it'll break your hand?"

I nodded. She sighed. "Listen. You won't break your hand! It won't even hurt!"

I bit my lip and took the horse stance again. Aetia smiled and walked behind me. "Okay. Now thrust out your fist and punch this rock!"

I counted down, and then thrust out my hand. And stopped right before it hit the rock. "Are you sure I won't break my hand?" I asked, not looking at Aetia. I heard her sigh.

"Yes. Even if you hit the rock and it doesn't move- which it will, because you're THE AVATAR- the most that'll happen is a bruised hand." She said. "Now punch the rock!"

I took a deep breath- prolonging it as long as I could- and punched will all my might.

That's how I broke my hand.

…

"It- it's not broken…" Aetia drifted off, and I smiled at her. I'll admit, a little smugly.

"Yes, it is." I said. "You can see the break!"

A second ago I had been screaming in pain, but now that it had subsided I wasn't screaming. Don't get me wrong, it still hurt, but not nearly as much as the first thirty seconds.

"It can't be broken! We have to train! How is this supposed-" She broke off. "Ritu! I'll get Ritu!"

Before I could say something, she ran out of the clearing. Thank goodness she didn't turn back, or she would have seen a specific finger sticking up at her.

"Told you my hand would break," I muttered, and then sat down to meditate.

...

Aetia returned quickly, breaking my concentration, with Ritu in tow. He smiled at me, water already in the air.

"Let's see it." I just stared at him. Oh my goodness was he good-looking.

"Rea?"

"Oh! Sorry… sorry…" I held out my hand, and he took it. His touch was so gentle!

The water began to glow, and he put it over my hand. I heard a crack, and then a pop, and the pain was gone.

"There you go!" he said, and smiled even wider. "Can I see your other hand?"

I nodded and handed it to him. "Sorry I haven't done this sooner," he said. "I know I told you I'd be back to heal them, but I wasn't able to make it yesterday." When he was done, he walked around and worked on my back. I looked at my hands. One was redder than the other, which was a faint pink.

"Oh! Yay!" I said. Scars were cool, but I didn't want them both scarred.

Ritu stepped in front of me, and I stood up.

"I talked to Aetia about it," he said. "I think that we should teach you to heal. Especially with firebending coming up." I nodded, head bobbing up and down faster than necessary.

"Okay!" I said, and my stomach did a weird flippy thing. More time with Ritu, yes! He turned toward Aetia. "Maybe we should stop earthbending for the day," he said, "and try healing." Aetia nodded and looked at me. I was shocked to see tears in her eyes.

"I'm- I'm really sorry… I didn't think that-" she broke off in a sob. "I thought that the Avatar could bend easily… I didn't even- I didn't even try to prepare you-" she choked out, and more tears fell down her face.

"Oh! No, no- don't be sorry…" I wasn't too sure how to handle this. "It wasn't your fault… I just can't bend! It's my fault…" Aetia took a deep shaky breath.

"No. It's my fault…"she drifted off. "I'll see you tomorrow…" she turned and walked into the trees. I was about to follow her, but Ritu grabbed my shoulder (making it very, very warm,).

"Just let her calm down. She gets like this every once in a while. It'll take an hour or two, but she'll calm down and realize it wasn't her fault."

"Okay…" I wasn't too sure and I wanted to follow her, even though I knew once I caught up with her I'd have no idea how to deal with her. "So, healing?"

Ritu nodded and took some water into his hands. "This is pretty advanced bending, and most don't- or can't- learn it until they're masters. But we're going to try to teach you sooner. Maybe some old Avatar powers will allow you to learn it quickly." He smiled, again. My heart beat faster, again.

"Let's try it." I said.

He looked at the water above his palm. "Healing is all about the energy in the water." The water above his hand started to glow. "You gotta tell it- that sounds weird but it's how it works- that it is…" he broke off. "Hmm. You have to-" He stood there a minute. "Okay. You have to tell it that it has something to heal. All water can heal- some waters better than others- and the water wants to heal. Does that sound right?" I nodded, even though it didn't.

"Water and fire are the two elements that live and breathe," he said. "It sounds weird, and you probably never felt it in fire because it was always out of control. But it's true." I nodded, still not believing him.

"Here. Try it." He flicked his wrist, and the water flew at me. And then it stopped. I grinned as it hovered before me, and I twisted my palm around. It was above my palm! And then I felt… something I can't describe. It was alive… it was moving around, swirling inside the little sphere it was trapped within.

"Can you feel it?" Ritu asked, and looked at the water. "How it moves on its own, but still in your control. Fire does the same thing. You can control it, but you can't stop it from moving in its self."

"How do you know it works with fire?" I asked, still holding the water and feeling it move.

"Saza told me," he said. "When I was trying to explain it to my brother, she said fire was the same."

"Oh," I said. "So, are you two…" I drifted off, and he laughed.

"No. Saza is not my girlfriend. I don't have one." He said, and took the water from me as my heart swelled. There was hope! Then I shook my head. What was wrong with me? I mean, really. I was acting like those girls in those books- you know what I'm talking about.

"So take some of the water," he said. I tried but couldn't. He gave some to me, and I was able to take that.

"Now do what I explained to you eairler."

"What was th- oh! Nevermind, I got it." I stared at the water, telling it it had to heal, it had to help-

And it glowed!

"Yes!" I shouted, and the water dimmed back down. Ritu grinned at me. "Nice!" He said. "Okay. Now try healing." He bent down and grabbed a stick, and with one swipe he cut into his skin. Blood welled, and then began to drip. It was deep. I grimaced.

"Okay." I walked closer to him and told the water to heal. It began to glow, and I held it over his palm. It felt strange, like a tugging, and after a second I took my hand away. There was no cut, and barely and trace of blood.

He stared at his palm.

"Well, that went fast. Very fast."

He smiled at me, and I grinned. Looks like I was talented with water, too. Not to brag or anything.

After Ritu left, I thought of a way to make Aetia feel better. All night I practiced, and finally I was moving thing back and forth and up and down.

The next morning when Aeita came, she walked in slowly and looked at the ground.

"Rea, I'm really sorr-"

"Oh, be quiet and come help me!" I called. "I need to learn more than one move!"

She looked up, and at first looked shocked. But then her face split into a huge smile as she saw a boulder hovering above my head.

Okay, not a boulder. But a pretty big rock.